Be Careful What You Wish For
by Goddess Isa
Summary: You should most likely read the spoiler comments instead that'll give you the summary =)


TITLE: Be Careful What You Wish For   
AUTHOR: Goddess Isa   
EMAIL: goddessisa@aol.com  
SUMMARY: You should most likely read the spoiler comments instead that'll give you the summary =)  
SPOILER: Up to Enemies, plus this hints on or directly mentions/relates to things that will happen in the remaining episodes in the third season, specifically the first spoilers we heard for Earshot. (we now know those were fake, but still.) Unless you like knowing everything (twisted my warped little way, of course), I wouldn't read this now. Archive it on your hard drive & pull it out when the ep has aired =)  
DISTRIBUTION: Sure, just email me & lmk where it's going - I like seeing my name in print =)  
FEEDBACK: Please, I'd hate to have to Slay for it. =P  
RATING: TV-14   
DISCLAIMER: I don't own these characters, Joss Whedon does. If he ever decides to give them to me, that would be nice. In fact, he SHOULD give them to me. I KNOW who belongs with whom. =)   
  
  
"Goddess Hecate, I've no fear. I summon all magick you hold dear. Asking not for me, asking not for love, I--"   
  
"That's the wrong spell," Amy interrupted.   
  
Willow jumped. Amy was standing behind the check out desk, leaning her chin on the counter since she was naked. "Amy!"   
  
"I guess the first spell worked," she assumed, shrugging. "Or that combined with something else you said, who knows?" she smiled. "Do you think you could find me some clothes?"   
  
"Buffy has some in the office."   
  
"Great," Amy waited while Willow went into Giles' office and returned holding a pair of black sweat pants with stripes down the side, a pink sports bra and a dark blue zip-up sweat jacket. She smiled gratefully and started getting dressed. "Thanks."    
  
"No prob. How did I do this?"   
  
"I don't know and I don't care." she came out from the desk and started jumping around. "I have feet! I can walk! And eat real food. The cheese has been great though, Will."   
  
"I bought real Italian Mozzarella, and that colby was good, I ate some with crackers one night while doing homework."   
  
"I owe you a lot," Amy said gratefully. She eyed Willow. She looked the exact same way she'd looked the last time Amy had seen her. "You're still doing the whole Oz thing, right?"   
  
"Yeah,"   
  
"I have to give you something."   
  
"What?" Willow asked, sounding a little too eager. Amy smiled.   
  
"Anything you want. Any spell you want, I'll do it."   
  
"Amy, we're not supposed--"   
  
"To use magick to help ourselves, I know the whole bit. I'm not gonna wind up like my mother, Will. I just wanna do something nice for you. You changing me was something nice for me, not you, and now I want to do the same thing in exchange. Like a thank-you."   
  
"I don't know Amy...."   
  
"Please? I'll feel horrible if I can't do something nice for you. And I know there must be something you want, with graduation and all. Do you want to get into Harvard? No, you probably already did that on your own."   
  
Willow didn't answer, but the look on her face said yes.   
  
"How about a car? Or some new clothes?"   
  
"Xander," Willow whispered.   
  
"You want Xander? Didn't you almost have him and then--"   
  
"I mean, I want the truth from Xander. Did you ever see that movie Liar, Liar?"   
  
Amy cracked up. "Is that what you want? You want Xander on a truth spell for a day?"   
She nodded.   
  
"That is so cool!" Amy squealed. "I've never done that before. My mom used to do it to me when I was little to get me to admit bad things I'd done. I've memorized the spell from her book. I only need one thing from Xander."   
  
"What?"   
  
"A lock of his hair."   
  
  
*****   
  
  
"How much stuff do you have in there?" Amy asked. Willow was digging through her locker looking for the comb of Xander's she'd borrowed two weeks ago. He claimed he'd only used it once so she should keep it, but she'd never ended up using it and assumed his hair was still in it.   
  
"Most of it is in the false bottom," she said quietly. "After the whole locker search thing, we had to start being really careful."   
  
She tore at a piece of what looked like a Shakespeare collection and smiled. "A-ha! It was inside the book." she showed the comb to Amy. "Will those work?"   
  
She eyed the comb. There were two hairs in it. "We're gonna find out."   
  
  
*****   
  
  
Willow had fallen asleep while Amy was working on the spell. She explained that it took awhile because everything had to be just right. When she woke up, it was near morning and she figured the Scooby Gang would soon be meeting in the library.   
  
"Amy?" she rubbed her eyes.   
  
"Shhh, I was just going to do it." Willow stood beside her and watched as she lit a candle by blowing on and it and changed for a moment. She held Xander's hair over the flame, and when it burned through it, the candle went out. "Go wait for him in the library." Amy said. "He's not there yet, but you can see if it works when he arrives."   
  
Willow hugged her and then ran off. Amy laughed as she put the things away. "He is so in love with her."   
  
  
*****   
  
  
Amy had been right, no one was in the library but Giles. Willow took her sweater off and unbuttoned her blouse a bit, making her outfit look at least slightly different than it had the day before. "Hi Giles."   
  
"Willow, hello. Are these your magick books?" he held up two paperbacks on the table.   
  
"Yeah. Guess what? Last night I turned Amy back!"   
  
"Oh great. I shouldn't look forward to any more trouble she'll be bringing, perhaps I should hide in my office." Willow gave Giles an odd look, and he made an odd face before going into his office and starting a cup of tea.   
  
"Hey Will," Buffy called as she entered. "Hey Giles."   
  
He came out. "Buffy. How was patrol?"   
  
"I let Faith do all the work since she's been pissing me off lately." the others looked at her oddly, and Buffy made a face as though she couldn't believe what she'd just said.   
  
"Did you see Angel?" Willow asked.   
  
"We spent the night together." Buffy covered her mouth, looked as though she was going to pass out, murmured something about needing to use the bathroom and ran out.   
  
"She certainly is acting odd today," Giles commented.   
  
Xander entered, skipping every few steps and whistling the Andy Griffith theme. "Hey all," he said in between beats.   
  
"Why are you so cheery?" Giles asked.   
  
Willow crossed her fingers behind her back, hoping for the truth.   
  
"Cordelia and I did it behind the Bronze last night."   
  
"What?" Willow asked. Giles made an annoyed face as though he didn't want to hear it.   
  
"Kidding, kidding." he smiled. "Didn't you know there was an Andy Griffith marathon all last night? I loved it."   
  
She made a face. An angry face. The spell hadn't worked on Xander, had it?   
  
She approached him. "Do you like my outfit?" she asked.   
  
"It's the same thing you had on yesterday," he said, giving her an odd look. "I liked it then, why wouldn't I like it now?"   
  
"Dammit!" she yelled and ran out of the library.   
  
"What's wrong with her?" Xander asked.   
  
"I wouldn't know, but I'm so sick of trying to figure you children out."   
  
Xander could only stare at Giles as he walked away.   
  
  
*****   
  
  
Willow didn't know she had enough strength to pin Amy against a wall, but apparently, she did. She grabbed her wrists and held them against the wall outside the classroom they'd done the spell in. "What the hell did you do?"   
  
"I cast a truth spell," she said, quite loudly. Kids around the hall stared.   
  
Willow stared at her. "It didn't work on Xander!!"   
  
"Oh shit."   
  
"How can we fix it?"   
  
"I honestly don't know."   
  
"No, really, Amy, how?"   
  
She fumbled for her words. "I DON'T KNOW!"   
  
"Shit." Willow let her go and slumped down the wall, burying her head in her knees.   
  
  
*****   
  
  
"I'm not really A Vampire Slayer," Buffy was saying. "I'm THE Vampire Slayer. Sure, Faith tries, and she's good at the kill and all, but her technique is totally off. And she always thinks she's so great, that like everyone should wanna be like her. She's a dirty skank, who would wanna be like her? I can't believe the Council still lets her Slay, provided I watch, of course."   
  
Willow's mouth may as well have been resting on the floor. She was so shocked by what she heard Buffy rattling off when she entered the library that she almost passed out. She ran over to the table Buffy was standing on and grabbed her hand, trying to pull her down.   
  
"Willow! Hi! Willow's a Witch everyone. She--"   
  
Willow yanked until Buffy fell down and landed near her on the floor. She grabbed her back up and pulled her out of the cafeteria. She drug her back to the library where Amy and Giles were looking madly through the books on Wiccan spells for a spell to end this stupidity.   
  
"I found her telling the entire class about the Slaying," Willow supplied.   
  
"The spell's effects go away," Amy said. "They won't remember anything." she looked to Willow. "That's why I thought it would be great for you and Xander."   
  
"I'm under a truth spell?" Buffy asked, a bit confused.   
  
"Where were you last night?" Willow demanded.   
  
"I watched Faith patrol then Angel and I chained her back up and went back to my place." her eyes grew wide when she realized what she'd said. "Oh my God."   
  
"Truth spell rears its ugly head," Willow said quietly.   
  
Buffy nudged Willow. "Does it work on everyone?"   
  
"Everyone but Xander and I, apparently."   
  
"I'm going to play," Buffy said, trying her best to make a Drusilla-like face. Willow cracked up.   
  
"Giles," Buffy said, sitting on the table. "What happened between you and my mother?"   
  
"When?" he didn't even realize what was going on.   
  
"How many times are there to refer to?"   
  
"The Band Candy, and the two dates we had." his face paled a bit when he realized what classified information he was giving out.   
  
"Tell me about the Band Candy first." she leaned in closer to him. "What happened?"   
  
"Well, really, not that much, actually, your mother and I went out to dinner together, and then we made love on the hood of her car." He fainted as soon as he finished getting the words out.   
  
  
*****   
  
  
"Feeling any better?" Buffy asked. "Although I don't think I care. How could you?" she hit him on the arm. "Really and truly, how could you do that to me?" she hit him again.   
  
"Buffy, that won't make anything better." Xander said. He had shown up and been informed of everything right after Giles had hit the floor. He was now laying on the research table. Oz and Xander had managed to lift him up there.   
  
She hit him again. "I feel better."   
  
"You're the Slayer," Willow said. "You could really hurt him."   
  
She leaned down close to his face. "I hope so."   
  
"Buffy, Buffy," Xander did not at all like being the voice of reason in this situation. "Let's not and say we did, k? Right now we're all, you're all, under a powerful spell and we're not going to remember this and this is bad anyway so let's just cool it."   
  
She made a face, stuck out her bottom lip and then jumped in the air. "Oh! I'm gonna go see Angel."   
  
"The spell might not have taken hold of him," Amy said. "Since he's....what he is."   
  
"I don't care, I wanna play." she skipped out of the library and Willow grabbed Amy by the shoulders as Giles stirred awake and rubbed his temples.   
  
"Find a curing spell. Now."   
  
  
*****   
  
  
Angel was asleep when Buffy showed up. She straddled him and he woke up instantly. "Buffy. What time is it? What are you doing?"   
  
She leaned down and laid her chin on her chest, their lips dangerously close, their eyes linked. "Why don't you ever do anything other than kiss me?"   
  
"I'm scared to death I'll lose my soul and hurt you." he eyed her. "I've never said that before."   
  
"Willow got Amy to cast a truth spell on Xander."   
  
"Doesn't Willow know better?"   
  
"Isn't everyone in love confused?" she countered. "It works on everyone but her and Xander. And now I must ask you something else."   
  
"Buffy...."   
  
"Are you leaving?" she asked softly.   
  
It hurt to look at her since he knew what he was going to say so he closed his eyes. "Yes."   
  
She pulled away and stared at him. "Angel....."   
  
He sat up in bed, realizing too late that he'd chosen to sleep in the nude and he was hanging out. He pulled the sheets over and Buffy looked away. "I talked to your mother. She told me that she feels I'm too big of an influence in your life. I mess everything up. You make decisions based on me."   
  
"That's what love is about." she said firmly. "And I do love you. And if you leave, you never loved me at all."   
  
"I love you more than I ever thought possible."   
  
She stared at him. Part of her wanted to slap him and the other part wanted to straddle him and screw him 'till dusk.   
  
"It's selfish if I leave," he admitted. "And I'd be telling myself it was for her but it would be for me."  
  
"So you don't want to be with me."   
  
"I don't want to hold you back. What kind of a life can we have?"   
  
She walked back over and grabbed his face, turning his eyes towards hers. "Look. I love you. You love me. Love conquers all, remember? Didn't you pay attention to that movie the other night? Love is the most important thing, and there's nothing without it. I cannot stand to lose you again."   
"Buffy--"   
  
"Don't Buffy me. I want to know. Now. Are you leaving, or not?"   
  
He didn't answer her. "Angel."   
  
"If I stay, then what?"   
  
"Then we stay like we are. It's better than nothing at all."   
  
Again, he said nothing.   
  
"I know you went to Hell and I know it was horrible, but it's nothing worse than what I went through here. I hated every moment of my life without you, and you have no idea how many times I made myself throw up a handful of sleeping pills because I chickened out at the last minute."   
  
"I never knew that."   
  
"I never told anyone." she rolled her eyes. "Damn truth spell."   
  
"I cannot believe you almost did that."   
  
"I would do anything for you. And if you go away, you may as well die because I cannot live without you."   
  
He didn't have an answer for her, even with the truth spell forcing honesty on them, so he just held her, hoping for a sign of some sort.   
  
  
*****   
  
  
Buffy woke up and she didn't know where she was. It took her only seconds to notice that she was in Angel's lair, in his bed, buck naked. Her clothes were scattered in various places around the room, as were his. She felt a lump grow in her throat as she heard water running in his shower. Scared to death of what she might find, and of the fact that she didn't know how she'd gotten there, she crept into the bathroom. "Angel?" she called   
  
He peeked his head out of the shower curtain and smiled. "Hey. Wanna join me? The water's not that hot, not that it would matter to me, but maybe...."    
  
"What exactly happened there?"   
  
"I don't know." he admitted. "Call Willow. She left like thirty messages on my machine."   
  
Buffy blinked her eyes, not yet adjusted to the light. "What time is it?"   
  
"Like nine-thirty. You're missing Ally McBeal."   
  
She just smiled at him before leaving the room. She was pretty sure Willow was taping it.   
  
  
*****   
  
  
"Buffy!" Willow said when she picked up the phone and heard her best friend's voice on the other end. "Are you okay? Is Angel okay? What happened?"   
  
"Long story, wish I knew it."   
  
"You guys don't remember anything?"   
  
"Nope. One day in two hundred and some years had to block out of his mind and it had to be this one."   
  
Willow smiled. "I'm just glad you guys are okay. I've gotta go, I'm contending with Amy. We're teaching her not to cast spells she really doesn't know about."   
  
"Was Giles mad?"   
  
"Nope. We told him he fell down the stairs and he actually believed us. Apparently he was exhausted before he came into work today, so he wouldn't know the difference."   
"Willow?"   
  
"Yes?"   
"Thanks."   
  
"For what?"   
  
"The truth spell." she smiled. "It gave me something I was deathly afraid I'd never have again."   
  
  
*****   
  
  
Willow hung up the phone and turned to Xander. "She bought that story hook, line and sinker."   
  
"It's not a story. Giles thinks he fell and we talked some sense into Amy."   
  
  
*****   
  
  
"Are you ever going to let me down?" she whined to Giles. He had her tied to the top of the staircase so she couldn't cast any spells for awhile.   
  
"If you learn how to control your magick, yes."   
  
She rolled her eyes and made a loud screaming noise. "Goddess Hecate--"   
  
"I'll gag you," he warned.  
  
She grinned at him. "You promise?"   
  
  
*****   
  
"So," Willow said a few minutes later. There was no real reason for Xander to be in her room. She'd heard from Buffy, she could relax now. Oz was playing at the Bronze and by rights, she should've been there with him. Still she couldn't make herself leave her bedroom, she couldn't make herself kick Xander out.   
  
"I think the truth spell bounced onto me," he said softly. "I was thinking alot lately Willow. About us, about you and Oz, about Cordy."   
  
"Thanks for throwing that name in there unnecessarily."   
  
"It is necessary. I have to tell you what I've decided."   
  
"If I don't want to know, don't tell me."   
  
"It doesn't work that way Will." he smiled. "I've spent months thinking about this. I want you to be my date to the prom."   
  
"I already told Oz I would go with him."   
  
"And Oz will be busy, playing and all. Come with me," he took her hands in his. "There's not another girl I'd rather go with."   
  
"Is that because Buffy and Cordelia are taken?"   
"Willow."   
  
"You didn't deny it," she said solemnly. She went to her double doors and opened one, the cold air coming in and blowing her hair around. "Just go, okay? I wanna be by myself."   
  
He looked hurt but left without saying another word. When he was gone, she slid down the door crying. When she finally stood up, she noticed an overly bright star outside her window. She decided that the star was a sign from someone, maybe her grandmother, or Miss Calendar. Still, she ignored it. She took a deep breath and started talking to no one.   
  
"I only wanted her to cast the spell so that I could find out how Xander really feels. I found out." she fell down onto her bed, crying again. "He truly loves Cordelia and he always will."   
  
  
*****   
  
  
"Don't go," Angel said when Buffy had put herself back together and was getting ready to leave.   
  
"I have to, I've gotta patrol before Faith tries to beat me to it." she motioned towards the staircase. They could hear her banging the chains against the wall. "You need to go talk to her."   
  
"Buffy....about what happened."   
  
She put her fingers on his lips. "Shhhh. That was the best thing that ever happened to me. I love you." she was gone before he could reply.  



End file.
